Senators claim veteran defenseman Victor Mete off waivers

The Senators have added some extra depth to their back end off the waiver wire as Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that Ottawa has claimed Victor Mete off waivers from Montreal. This move comes off the heels of them trading Mike Reilly and Braydon Coburn late Sunday night.

Mete has played a very limited role with the Canadiens this season, suiting up in just 14 games this season, picking up three assists while averaging a career-low 14:09 per game.  It’s a sharp contrast from the beginning of his career when he spent considerable time on the top pairing with Shea Weber, but he was surpassed on the depth chart by Ben Chiarot, Joel Edmundson and Alexander Romanov as they were brought in over the last two years. That resulted in an early-season trade request, one that was clearly not fulfilled, and evidently Montreal couldn’t find a taker before waiving the 22-year-old yesterday.

With the limited role he had in the bubble, Mete opted to accept his $735K qualifying offer, making him a low-cost acquisition for Ottawa down the stretch. However, he is eligible for salary arbitration this summer, and with nearly 200 career NHL games under his belt, he will have a good case for a somewhat notable raise if he was to get to a hearing despite how things have gone this season.

But that’s an issue for the summer. In the meantime, the Senators will get a free opportunity to take a closer look at Mete to see if he can be a part of their future plans. As for Montreal, they basically brought in his replacement Sunday with the acquisition of Jon Merrill from Detroit, so this news won’t affect any of their other plans before Monday’s trade deadline.